PCMC hospitals left sans H1N1 vaccines

ST CORRESPONDENT

Wednesday, 19 July 2017

Medical Superintendent of PCMC-run Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial Hospital Manoj Deshmukh said, “Since we have not received supply of the swine flu vaccine, we have stopped giving it to people. The government has assured us that the vaccine will be supplied in the next 15 days.”

PIMPRI: At a time when swine flu deaths are on the rise, Pimpri-Chinchwad has been left without swine flu vaccines since June 25. So far, 22 people have died due to the infection.

The roll-out of Goods and Services Tax (GST) is being given as the reason why Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has not received the fresh stock of the vaccine. Medical Superintendent of PCMC-run Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial Hospital Manoj Deshmukh said, “Since we have not received supply of the swine flu vaccine, we have stopped giving it to people. The government has assured us that the vaccine will be supplied in the next 15 days.”

A meeting with the health department was conducted about the issue, where officials from the health department assured the civic body that swine flue vaccines will be made available soon. The company that has been given a contract for supplying the vaccine has adequate stock of the vaccine, but it has not been released due to roll out of GST.

So far, PCMC-run hospitals have administered swine flu vaccines to 6,300 people. Out of these, 4,500 vaccines were supplied by the State government and the remaining vaccines were purchased by the PCMC from the open market. The PCMC Standing Committee recently sanctioned Rs 11 crore for purchase of medicines. If the PCMC fails to get vaccines from the State government soon, it will initiate the process for purchasing the vaccines, officials said.

So far, PCMC hospitals have given Tamiflu tablets to over 6,063 people in city and 178 confirmed cases of swine flu have been found this year. While 22 people have died due to the infection, 30 people have been put on ventilators so far. Officials meanwhile added that Tamiflu tablets are available in adequate numbers.

HIGH RISK GROUP LEFT IN LURCH
As per the standard protocol for swine flue treatment, people who fall in the high risk group for H1N1 infections must be administered swine flu vaccines. Those who fall in the high risk group include pregnant women, people with chronic health issues, hospital staff members and children.

Swine flu toll rises to 68
ST CORRESPONDENTPUNE: A 54-year-old man succumbed to swine flu at 9:15 am in the city on Tuesday, taking the death toll to 68. He was a resident of Market Yard and was tested positive for H1N1 on July 11. The health department of the PMC said that he was not diagnosed with any other major illness.

The data furnished by the PMC said that three more patients were tested positive for swine flu on Tuesday. On Tuesday, 2,816 patients were screened for swine flu and 107 were administered Tamiflu. Around 17 swab samples were sent for testing. Currently, 10 patients are on ventilators and seven are admitted for recovery. There was no discharge of patients on Tuesday.

Since January 1, 4,51,606 patients have been screened for swine flu and 8,403 have been administered Tamiflu. Out of 1,423 swabs sent for testing, 340 were found positive for swine flu. So far, 255 patients have been positively discharged after recovery.